Kids & Cats
by hat-and-goggles
Summary: A Voltron: Legendary Defender single dad AU. Shiro has his doubts when his youngest son begs him to take home a stray cat. However, after some time the cat decides it's time for her to go home, leading the Shirogane family to her owner. Of course, it doesn't take much time for the Shirogane and Altea families to befriend one another.
1. Chapter 1

"And don't run off too far, or I'll put the harness back on you!" Shiro shouted as Lance ran up ahead of the others, still eating his ice cream. He had been holding the boy back all day. He knew the kid needed to blow off some steam so he decided to let him go in an area he knew Lance knows well.

"Dad, I'm 8. I don't need the harness to begin with." He said with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

"I'll believe that when you stop disappearing on me." Shiro said, ruffling the boy's hair. The park was quiet this time of the day. He lifted Pidge from his shoulders and carefully set her down in the sandbox before taking a seat on a nearby bench from which he could easily keep an eye on his kids.

Except for Lance.

Shit.

* * *

"It's okay, kitty. I'm not gonna hurt you." Lance said as he slowly reached for the cat with hands that were still sticky from the ice cream. The cat didn't seem to be the least bit worried, almost immediately nuzzling into Lance's hand. Lance carefully picked the cat up, keeping one arm around her torso and the other under her legs and ran back to the playground in the park. The cat had short, thick fur that seemed to have a blue sheen over it and bright, yellow eyes that followed him everywhere. "Dad! Look what I found!" Oops… Lance's face fell as soon as he saw the expression on his dad's face.

"Lance, what did I tell you about running off without telling me?"

"That I shouldn't do it…" Lance pouted.

"Then why did you do it?"

"I heard this cat… It was stuck under a box with a brick on top of it! I felt so bad for it, so I set it free. I think it likes me! Can we take it home, dad? Pleeeeaaaaaase?"

Shiro let out a deep sigh "okay, fine. But because Katie can't stay with us all the time, the three of you will have to take care of it on your own. Understood?"

"Understood!"

* * *

And that's how it was for the next two days. Lance, Keith and Hunk took care of Blue together and Pidge played with her as she came and went. She seemed to calm the boys down a lot, making Shiro's job a lot easier. Things were finally looking up for the Shirogane household until Hunk showed up at the dinner table.

"Has anyone seen Blue?" he asked.

"No," said Keith, "but I saw an open window in the living room. Maybe she escaped through there."

"Can we go look for her, dad? Please?" Hunk pleaded.

"I'm not sure, guys… Dinner is almost ready. Can't we wait?" Shiro asked, hopeful they would say yes.

"No!" the smallest of the four piped up, "The longer she's out there, the further she can wander." Pidge crossed her arms sternly, "Besides, I opened the window. I'm sorry I let the cat escape…" She then looked up to Shiro with the biggest, cutest doe eyes she could muster, knowing he wouldn't stand a chance.

Shiro sighed and turned off the stove. "Okay. Let's go."

* * *

It took them about half an hour to come back to the exact same alley where Lance initially found Blue. With Shiro's permission the kids split up, looking for her in the surrounding alleys. Lance stayed there to search through the boxes and trash cans. "Heeeere, kitty, kitty, kitty. C'mon, Blue, give me a sign!"

Then he heard it, a shrill meow, followed by very content purring. Lance whipped around to find his cat in the arms of a beautiful woman with electric blue eyes, smooth, dark skin and wavy, pearly white hair, probably only one or two years younger than Shiro.

"Have you been taking care of Blue while she was away?" She asked. Lance could only nod, completely taken by her beauty and friendliness. "Don't you think it's funny we both gave her the same name?" When she giggled, Lance could feel his heart jump in his chest. He was so sure. He knew she was _the one_. Without any hesitation, he sprinted toward the alley he knew Shiro was searching in.

"Dad! Dad, you need to come with me, _right now_." Lance said, pulling on his arm, taking him back to the white haired woman. By the time they made it there, the others had already arrived. The woman left Blue in the careful arms of Hunk, who allowed Pidge and Keith to pet her too, and looked up at Shiro.

"I'm, uh, sorry. We didn't know Blue was your cat." Shiro said, scratching behind his ear. "If we'd known she belonged to anyone we wouldn't have taken her home."

"No!" she said "If anything, I'm glad you and your family took care of her these last few days. My neighbor, he doesn't exactly like my cats because they always play in his flower bed, so sometimes he sets up traps for them around the neighborhood. If your son hadn't found her, I don't know what would have become of her. I'd like to thank you."

"That won't be necessary—"

"My uncle always cooks far too much for dinner. It's 6:30, and you look like you haven't eaten yet. I insist."

* * *

The woman introduced herself as Allura. A very fitting name, Shiro thought, for this woman who appeared to be a Lady in every single possible way.

"Uncle Coran, I'm home! I brought some friends over for dinner."

"Friends?" a head poked through the doorway to the kitchen. The man was probably in his late forties, but despite that there wasn't a single gray hair to be found on his head or in his thick mustache. He smiled brightly at this strange new man and the children surrounding him and ushered them into the kitchen. "Go on, pick a seat! Make yourselves at home. You're lucky I made extra. We're having macaroni bolognese."

"Great!" Hunk said as he hopped into a chair at the dinner table "I'm starving."

"It's been ages since we last had pasta too." Keith added.

Shiro turned to the man he earlier heard Allura call Coran as the kids chattered away at the dinner table. "I'm really sorry for intruding like this, but your niece was _very_ persistent." He said with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Don't worry about it, son. It doesn't happen every day that she brings home a nice, responsible young man like yourself. Name's Coran, by the way." The mustachioed man said with a wide grin on his face.

Shiro frowned slightly, but that did little about the blush growing on his face "I really don't think she brought us here because of that. I'm Takashi. Or Shiro. That's what everyone calls me anyway."

Coran chuckled, "I'm sorry. Maybe I went a little over board there. Though, if I'm completely honest, she could use a friend like you." They watched Allura serving the kids their dinner.

"You know, Coran…" Shiro said as he looked at Allura having fun with his kids "I think I could use a friend like her too." And with that, he sat down at the table and joined the conversation, not noticing Coran smiling fondly at him.

* * *

You can read more about how I'm using the show's characters here! u/106342194/single%20dad%

I'm planning to write more for this AU after this intro fic! I have a few abstract ideas, but you can always message me with suggestions or ideas right here, on my tumblr (surfingthewavesoffeminism), DeviantART (hat-and-goggles) or twitter (hatandgoggles)!

Next chapter: the quest for Allura's cats!


	2. Chapter 2

Dinner that evening took much longer than usual, but it was a welcome change. As it turns out, Coran is a very good cook and Shiro was more than happy to watch the kids munch away at something infinitely better than he felt he could put together himself. It was nice, though, not having to do everything by himself for once and getting to make conversation with grownups other than the boys' teachers.

He learned that Allura was well on her way to become a successful business woman, speaking more languages than he could count on his hand and was familiar with etiquettes from all around the world. He also learned that Allura had been living with Coran since she was very young, but the sad look on her uncle's face stopped him from pushing any further.

"So, what's up with your cats anyway? Why don't you just keep them inside?" Keith asked, looking up at Allura from his seat next to her.

"Well, how would you feel if your dad kept you inside at all times in fear of you getting lost?"

"Dad did that to Lance for a week once after he wandered off at the mall."

"Yeah, that sucked!" Lance interjected, quickly followed by a stern ' _Lance_.' from Shiro.

"Only Blackie is a real inside cat." She said with a smile on her face, shoving her chair away from the table to reveal a large, fat, black cat lounging under the table, meowing quietly as she nudged it with her foot. "She emreally/em hates going outside. Every time we go to the vet is an absolute nightmare."

"Wait, hold up, aside from Blue and Blackie, how many cats do you have?" Shiro asked, shocked by the sheer amount of cats could be wandering around the house at maximum.

"Well, there's Blue and Blackie, Verde, Red and Goldilocks."

"You've got five kitties?!" Pidge piped up, looking at Allura with large, sparkling eyes. Allura could only chuckle and pat her head.

"Exactly. You already know Blue, she is very friendly and likes to meet new people. Verde is very smart and she loves nature. She's been getting into trouble with Mr. Sendak for digging up his flower beds. Goldilocks is usually the gentle giant to Red's arrogant loose cannon and, well, that leaves Blackie. She doesn't have to step in much, but she's usually the unifying factor in this band of misfits. If I'm completely honest, they remind me of the five of you. One wouldn't expect them to work so well together, but they do."

"Like us!" Pidge giggled.

Lance's eyes suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree. "So you have a lot of cats, right?"

"Uh, right. That's what I was talking about just now."

"And there's only two here, right?" he kept asking, starting to go somewhere.

"Exactly." Allura nodded.

"Then we should go on an adventure! We could split up in groups and go look for the big, wild lions that escaped from the mothership!" Lance narrated, making big gestures as he always did. "By the way, I call dibs on Hunk."

"Dibs on Shiro!" Pidge shouted, grabbing his hand.

"Whoa, back up there, young man. You and Hunk are _not_ going outside at this time without someone to look after you." Shiro intervened. Lance always came up with these wild ideas, getting everyone excited, but in the end Shiro was only one man and he could only be in one place. He turned around when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Your son has such a wild imagination, it would be a shame to see that go to waste. I'll go with them, then you can go outside with your little girl." Coran said enthusiastically.

"Um, thank you, but she's not my—"

"What about me?" Came a small voice from behind Shiro. Keith was the only one who hadn't been picked yet.

"Oh, I have an idea!" Coran crouched down to his level. "You could go with the princess when she finishes doing the dishes."

"Coran, it was your turn—"

"Sorry, I can't hear you over the responsibility of guiding these young paladins on their first intergalactic mission!"

* * *

The park was quiet and almost empty when Shiro wandered around, firmly holding on to Pidge's hand. It had been about an hour since they left Allura's place. On multiple occasions Shiro had done the suggestion to go home, but on each of those occasions the little girl shot them down. She was more than determined to bring this cat home. The sky was starting to turn orange, and he was about to suggest going home again when he felt a sharp elbow nudging his thigh.

"Shiro, did you hear that?" Pidge whispered loudly and Shiro shook his head. "Listen harder!" She hissed again and Shiro closed his eyes. If he focused really hard, he could hear the sound of a meowing cat, coming from a bush only thirty feet away from them.

Shiro ran over and moved the leaves aside, revealing a small cat with a bright green collar. "She's here!" He said, calling over his small companion. "The branches are too tightly wound together. There's no way I can reach her."

"That's what you've got me for!" Pidge piped up and she crawled on the dirt, into the bush and safely extracted the cat.

"Your mom is going to kill us both when I drop you off."

* * *

"Uh, Lance? I'm not sure breaking in to a construction site would be a good idea." Hunk said, nervously watching his youngest brother climbing over the fence.

"Exactly! We can just wait for her to come out!" Coran added.

Lance scoffed, "Why did I pick you bunch of weenies for this... There's nobody here! Coran, you keep watch. Hunk, come with me."

With a deep sigh, Hunk hooked his fingers into the mesh of the fence, kicked his feet between the wires and slowly and carefully scaled the fence, whereas Lance let himself drop to the ground halfway down.

The boys wandered around the construction site for a solid ten minutes before finding goldilocks in a tight corner behind the construction workers' break room.

They heard barking. Two large Rottweilers came sprinting at them. Lance thought quickly and pushed Hunk into the narrow space behind the break room while bolting away himself, catching the attention of the dogs and keeping them away from his big brother.

"Meet me at the fence!" the youngest shouted, outrunning the guard dogs for now.

Hunk sighed, carefully lifting the heavy materials and putting them away, making enough space for him to squeeze between and carefully pick up the fluffy cat. He quickly made his way back to the fence, keeping his eyes trained on Lance and the guard dogs. He lifted the cat up to his shoulder and scaled the fence, handing Goldilocks to Coran before sitting down on the edge of the fence more balanced and leaning down, grabbing Lance by his collar and pulling him up, helping him climb more quickly.

When their feet touched the ground on Coran's side of the fence, the boys leaned against it, exhausted, breathing heavily. Coran would have scolded them, but from the looks on their faces he could see the boys had already learned their lesson.

* * *

Keith stared up at the red cat halfway up the tree in Mr. Sendak's back yard. The cat was staring back at him, with a smug look on her face. Keith was on his own now. Everyone was still out looking for the other cats and Allura was inside, doing the dishes.

He took a few steps back and ran at the wooden fence, giving him just enough momentum to successfully climb up. He quickly found his balance, standing on the thin beams. He took a few deep breaths before jumping up, grabbing the first branch and pulling himself onto it. From there, he slowly advanced towards the cat that was still staring at him, watching intently.

"Seriously, what do you want from me?" Keith asked, finally climbing onto the branch the cat was sitting on, slowly crawling towards her. "I'm a friend of your mom's. You could be a little nicer. Just come closer." When he reached for the cat she quickly jumped down to another branch. "Oh come on!"

Suddenly there was a loud cracking sound behind him. He didn't notice he had bent the branch as much as he did, it was only a matter of time until it snapped.

Everything was black for a hot minute. His nerves exploded with pain, there was a loud ringing in his ears and… licking? On his face? With a groan, Keith sat up and opened his eyes to find the red cat sitting next to him, looking up at him. Less smugly, this time. Keith pulled the cat into his chest with a smile, lying back down until Shiro and Allura came running outside.

"Good kitty."

* * *

"Keith? Keith!" Allura called for him running out of the house, finding the unmoving boy lying on the lawn. She knelt down by him, unsure whether or not to move him. Shiro was hot on her heels, crouching beside her. He reached out to check him over, but Red started hissing at him and batted his hand away as soon as he so much as pointed at Keith.

The sound must have woken him up. He opened his eyes to the blurry sight of Shiro and Allura leaning over him. As his world slowly became more in focus he could see the concern in their eyes and on their faces and oh no. Those were tears in their eyes. He is in so much trouble right now.

"It's… It's not as bad as it looks." Keith managed to croak. "Look, Red listened to me."

"I don't care!" Shiro shouted, his voice cracking as the tears spilled from his eyes, rolling down his cheeks and dripping onto Keith's surprised face. He'd never meant to make his dad this sad. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?! You could have broken an arm, a leg, your back, every bone in your entire body! You could have-"

"What your father is trying to say," Allura cut him off before his mind and his mouth could wander to more unpleasant scenarios. "is that what you did was very reckless and we want you to not do it again."

"Ever. Understood?"

"Yeah." Keith groaned, only groaning louder when Shiro gently picked him up and carried him inside.

He hissed when Coran disinfected the cuts and scratches while Allura gently placed band aids on the cleaned wounds and Shiro gently stroked his still throbbing head while they waited for the aspirin to kick in.

Red was sitting right beside him, still not liking the look of other people touching him, but she seemed to understand it was for his own good.

"Well,"Allura smiled, "at least we finally found someone Red will listen to."

Keith couldn't help but grin triumphantly.

* * *

Allura was surprised when the man with the white hair bowed to her.

"I'm so sorry about tonight. I know the kids can be a handful, but I'm grateful you made the time to help me out with them. I promise, we won't trouble you again."

"Please, there's no reason to bow, Mr. Shirogane." Allura smiled as she gently pulled him back in an upright position. "I had a lot of fun tonight. You know… if you'd like, you could come over more often. The children could play in the yard and Coran and I could take some of the workload off your back."

With the way she was looking at him and the offer she was making, Shiro couldn't help but stare at her. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can—", he started before Hunk spoke up.

"We'll gladly take your offer on behalf of our dad. He deserves friends like you and Coran to help him." With that, Hunk turned to his father as if to scold him. "Dad, we love you and we respect you, but we also know you're only human. Taking care of the four of us takes a lot out of you. So please, for once in your life, don't be stubborn about being polite all the time and turning down any offer you get and just say yes."

Shiro looked around, all of his sons, Katie and Allura were all looking at him expectantly. He knew Hunk was right. He knew doing everything by himself was exhausting him. He knew that when something was wrong with him, Hunk was always the one to make sure everything turned out okay.

And so, for the good of his children and himself, he took a deep breath and he said "Yes. I'd love that, thank you. And please, call me Shiro."


	3. I'll keep the nightmares away

It was just a regular afternoon. Just a routine mission.

They were delivering food and supplies to a near deserted city. As always, Shiro was behind the wheel of the truck. Matt, his best friend and interpreter, was seated next to him and Matt's dad was in the back seat.

It was _supposed_ to be just a regular afternoon. It was _supposed_ to be just a routine mission.

There was a loud crash. The windows shattered as the truck was flung onto its side. Shards and shrapnel nestled into his skin and cut through him like a warm knife through butter. He heard himself cry in pain as something heavy fell onto him and crushed his arm. It was hot. It was so intensely hot. And then, everything went black.

* * *

When Shiro woke again, it was from small, warm hands on his shoulders. "Dad. Dad, wake up!" Hunk hissed at his father in an attempt to not wake up his brothers. "You were having a nightmare again…"

"Nightmare…" Shiro mumbled groggily as the world around him slowly came into view. He was in his bedroom in his apartment, not in a truck in the desert. Shiro pushed those memories deep into the back of his mind and smiled sleepily as he slung the remnants of his right arm around Hunk's shoulders. "Guess it was your turn again, huh? I'm sorry if I woke you up."

Hunk let out an exasperated sigh as he hugged his dad. "You don't have to say sorry about that, dad. You can't help it. I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't see those scary things anymore." Hunk said, "I'll stay with you tonight. I'll keep the nightmares away."

Hunk never ceased to amaze Shiro with the sheer amount of maturity the boy seemed to possess at the tender age of 9. It really didn't seem fair to him at all. Every time something was wrong with _him_ , Hunk would be the one left in charge. Every panic attack, every seizure, every nightmare, Hunk would be the one to direct the other kids in order to make Shiro as comfortable as possible. That is, if he wasn't doing all of those things on his own. Shiro smiled as he scooped his son up into his arm and kissed his head. "Good night, Hunk."

"Good night, dad."

* * *

"It's just not fair." Shiro said as he let his forehead bump against the surface of the table he and Allura were occupying in the small coffee shop, "Sometimes I can't help but think the boys would have been better off with Lindsey and Brad. They deserve a big house with a big yard they can play in with their loving parents… Not some crummy apartment with peeling wallpaper and a traumatized war vet who wakes up everyone in a one block radius by screaming in his sleep on a regular basis."

"Shiro," Allura sighed "I'm sure she had a good reason she _willingly_ gave you full custody over the boys. I mean, I've seen you with them. It's obvious that you love them and they love you. You're the loving parent they really need."

"She said she thought I'd need them more than she would… Now she and her new husband are having the babies I could never give her."

"Come on, being salty over something you can't change isn't going to help anything. You have your kids who love you with all their hearts. They'll never abandon you."

"I know… I just want what's best for them, and I don't feel like I can give them that."

Allura took his hand in both of hers. Her hands were smooth and warm, her hold somehow seemed both firm and gentle. The contact was reassuring, calming Shiro down almost instantly. She chuckled as he peeked up at her through his stark white bangs. "I promise, Shiro, we'll find a way. You've got Uncle Coran and me now. You don't have to do this alone." She said, gently placing a kiss on his knuckles, only giggling louder as he hid his blushing face in his upper arm.

* * *

The fire was hot against her face. It only grew hotter as she ran closer to the inferno that was her parents' house. Her home. She had jumped out of the car before Coran could even try to stop her. She ran, barefoot, in a circle around the house, looking for a spot, _any_ spot, that wasn't set ablaze, but the doors, the windows, the kitty door, all were engulfed by flames.

Allura fell to her knees, clutching her stuffed mouse to her chest. Her eyes slowly grew wet from the dry air and the heavy feeling in her heart, as if it was being torn to shreds. The horrible realization that here parents were inside this ocean of flames, sent a wrecking sob through her small body.

Coran rushed to her, holding her, trying to comfort her and ease the pain, but she was already wailing over her mother and father. He soon joined her in her crying, grieving over the loss of his dearest friends.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

* * *

Allura jolted awake long before her alarm was meant to go off. Shiro and his family would come over later today and stay over for the weekend. She decided she might as well get up and get breakfast ready. She tied her hair in a quick bun and pulled on her robe before making her way downstairs, quietly passing by Coran's room to make sure she didn't wake him up.

As she rummaged through the kitchen cabinets she tried to make as little sound as possible. She poured herself a glass of orange juice, put bread in the toaster, but nothing could have prepared her for the loud gurgling noises that came from the coffee maker as she turned it on. It sounded as if the gates to Hell itself opened in her kitchen, the poor girl did everything she could to get it to quiet down, but stopped dead in her tracks as the kitchen lights flicked on.

"Nightmares again, Princess?" Coran asked. Many people had called her 'Princess' in a lifetime, more often than not condescendingly, but Coran had been calling her that for as long as she could remember. From him, it always sounded fond and sincere.

"W-What makes you think that?" she stammered quietly.

"You're up making breakfast at 4.30 in the morning. Your alarm doesn't go off for the next three hours. Besides, after living with me for eighteen years, don't you think I ought to know you a little bit better than that?"

Allura looked down. She didn't want to tell him he was right, but he sure wasn't wrong either.

"All I'm asking you is to _please_ talk to someone about them. It might be a relief, you know? It doesn't _have_ to be a therapist. It can be me, or anybody, really."

"You know, I think I will."

* * *

That afternoon she spent just like any other. Smiling, laughing, playing with the children she had come to love oh so dearly, but after dinner, when night slowly came to fall and the kids were put to bed one by one, Allura approached Shiro.

"Shiro, I need to talk to you about something… Out of everyone, I think you'd understand the most. It's… a little personal. I hope you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all." He said with a reassuring smile. "Would you like to move this somewhere more private?"

Allura nodded and hooked her arm in his, guiding him to her bedroom. Once there, she quietly closed the door behind them and sat them both down on her bed.

"I don't believe I've ever told you about my parents…"

"Allura, you don't have to—"

"No, I know. But I want to." She took a deep breath. "When I was seven years old, I lost my parents in a house fire, I was spending the night at Uncle Coran's place, so he could babysit me while he worked. My parents had called him to tell him they had come home from the party they went to and would be going to bed. An hour later, we got a call from the fire department…" She choked up, tears were welling up in her eyes and threatening to spill. Shiro put a gentle hand on her knee and his arm around her shoulder, his eyes glinting with tears as well. "We went there immediately… We made it there even before the ambulance did. I just—I couldn't believe my eyes. My parents' house was just this ocean of fire. The fire men told us they would try to extinguish the fire from outside, but they wouldn't be able to go in until the flames at the doors and windows would die down a little. They—" She sobbed. "They told us they were sorry, but there was nothing they could do."

"Come here…" Shiro whispered, and pulled her into a gentle hug. Slowly, Allura returned the embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist. She allowed herself to freely cry into his chest.

"I still have dreams about it." She mumbled. "Nightmares, really… Coran and I are there, alone, I always try to find a way in to save them, but I never can and it _hurts_ , every time, just as much as the first. I just… I don't know how to cope with it."

"Do you remember the other day at the coffee shop?"

Allura nodded.

"When I have my nightmares, one of the boys always wakes me up. Then, once I'm fully awake and aware of where I am, we go back to sleep, and whoever is there with me makes sure to wake me up again when I have another dream that night. If—uh, if you don't mind, I'd like to do the same for you." Only when he had finished that sentence did he realize what he was _actually_ asking her; to sleep _with_ her, _in her bed_. When a palm _didn't_ make contact with his cheek within five seconds, he pulled back and looked at her. She was smiling.

"Actually, that doesn't sound half bad." She laughed through her tears, and Shiro laughed with her.

That night, the two of them slept peacefully and comfortably. Not a nightmare in sight.


End file.
